Filing device



' G. D. HARRAH.

FILING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10'. 1919.

Patented May 16, 1922.

jncrmnfo azor q. Z7, Farr-A UNWED STATE GEORGE D. HARRAl-I, 01? BUFFALO, NEW] YORK, ASSIGNOR TO MZULTOPLEX FILING DEVICE COMPANY, OF BUFFALG, NEW YGRK, A CQRPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FILING DEVICE.

Application filed May 10,

T0 (4Z2 whom it may concern Be it known that 1, Grocer. D. HARRAH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bu'flalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Filing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to-filing devices of the vertical filing type, and it relates particularly to means for providing such devices with spacing means. It is also an improvement upon the devices shown on Patents Nos. 993A06 and 1,010,453, issued to Probert and Stuart on May 30, 1911, and December 5, 1911, respectively.

The objects of this invention are to improve the spacing means shown in said patents and to provide a standard construction of such devices which may be readily applied to drawers or containers not provided with spacing means.

As shown insaid patents, the removable, adjustable and yielding spacing means serve to hold the contents in a vertical position, to prevent the contents from tipping over and becoming mixed or misplaced, and'at the same time permit free manipulation, removal, or replacement or" any division without disturbance of the contents of an adjacent compartment. My invention attains these same ends and also permits the attachment of the same to drawers or containers not provided with spacing means, and permits the same without any material reconstruction of the drawer or container. In the following specification I shall use the term drawer as inclusive of any one of the well-known containers of the vertical filing t e.

l iteferring to the drawings herewith, Fig. l is a perspective, partly in section, of a drawer made of sheet metal provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-section of my improvement applied to a drawer made of wood. Fig. 3 is a detail section showing my control strips secured to the upper sides or edges of a'metal drawer. Fig. 4 is a detail of one of my clips. I

The standard drawer may be either sheet metal, as shown at 1, or wood, as shown at 1; and I will first describe. my invent on applied to a metal drawer, referring to Flgs.

1, 3 and 4. Drawers of this type have beads or flanges upon their upper side edges, as shown at 2. Over these edges 1 secure the Sipecifieation of Letters Iatent. R a,te11t@(l ltiay 16, 1922,

1919. Serial No. 296,231.

control-strips, generally designated by the character 3, and which consist of the inner, vertical, flat portions (0, which lie against the inner sides of the drawer, the horizontal fiat portions 5 which set well up above the beads 2, and the outside downwardly-extending portions 0. These strips are provided with the inverted T-shaped slots 4:, clearly shown in Fig. 1, the tail end of the slot extending well into the upper flat portion 7) to. permit the removal or replacement of the spacer as hereafter described. t will be understood that the longitudinal portions of these slots permit the limited movement of the spacers, and that they may be made greater in length, or shorter and in greater number, as desired, and it will be understood, as shown in the drawings, that a spacer to each pair of slots is not necessary, but may be so used when it is desired to divide the contents into small divisions. And since drawers and various containers are of various lengths, these slot-plates are made of standard maximum length, so that the same may be adapted to drawers of various lengths merely by cutting the same the right length for a specific use; and this, with similar standardization hereafter mentioned, is of large practical advantage in adapting a standard 7 construction to the great number of drawers of varying length, width and depth.

These control-strips are secured to and held .in place over the upper edges of the drawer by clips 6, the lower, fiat portions of which lie against the outsides of the box or drawer, the middle parts o1 which are bent outwardly, and the upper ends of which have the inwardly-extending parts 6 which engage against the inner sides of the strips 3. These slips are held by screws 7 which pass through the parts a and are threaded into the clips, thus'clamping the strips to the drawer, and as they pass just above the edges 2, it is not necessary to drill or punch holes in the drawer sides. Since the beads or edges 2 may vary somewhat in size or shape in cross-section, I may have clips bent or formed somewhat differently; but as such variation is comparatively slight in most standard makes, the form shown is suflicient.

To engage with and limit the movement of the legs 8 of the spacers, the bottom of the drawer may be slotted, as shown at 9 in Cir Fig. 2.

Referring now to my improved spacer frames, T will describe the same. It will be understood that spacers of this sort must be both strong and inexpensive, since the same are used in large numbers and not infrequently handled by employees who exercise small judgment or care. As clearly shown in Fig. 2, the upper, horizontal wires or members 5, which have their ends bent downwardly, engage loosely in the slots 4 of the control-strips and have movement longitudinally of the drawer limited by the length of the slots to facilitate insertion or removal of the contents. The purpose of having the ends of these wires 5 bent downwardly is both to prevent forcing out or undue bending down under rough usage, since under such conditions of use the bent ends will engage against the inner walls of the parts a of the slot-strips and prevent further bending or displacement.

The frames are formed from a single piece of wire by bending them toform the 'leg portions 8 and the brace or truss portions 8*, 8, 8, which are welded or otherwise rigidly secured at their contacting points with the wire 5. This forms a rigid spacer of skeleton form which is much cheaper and quite as strong and durable as a spacer formed from sheet metal.

Another important feature of this construction is that as the drawers to be provided with my improvements vary in width and depth, the spacers, in order to maintam a standard form of construction, have their wires 5 of maximum length to fit drawers of the greatest width, and do not, in manufacture, have their ends bent downwardly, and have the legs of similar maximum length but of standard, uniform distance apart. lVith such construction, whereby the same may be made in large numbers, all that is required to fit the same to any specific use is to cut the wires 5 the required length and bend the ends down by well-known means and cut the legs the proper length.

Referring now to Fig. 2, I will describe the application of my invention to wood drawers. The control-strips 3, having slots as heretofore described, have their inner vertical portions lying flat against the insides of the drawer, while the outer downturned sides rest upon the upper edges of the drawer as shown. These strips are secured by wood-screws, dispensing with the clips which are essential to metal drawers. To form slots or limiting means for the 7 legs 8, I place two or more metal plates 10 transversely upon the floor or bottom of the drawer, which plates are provided with the upstanding projections 11, and over these projections 1 place slot strips 12, extending the full length of the drawer and having slots similar to the slots 9 shown in Fig. 1, within which the legs 8 engage.

To secure standard construction to fit varying sizes of drawers, as in the case of the wires 5 above described, and to engage the legs 8 which are of standard distance apart, the cross-strips or plates '10 have their upstanding portions 11 all the same distance apart, while the length over all of the strips 10 is maximum to fit the widest standard drawers, and the slot strips 12 are likewise of maximum length; so that fitting the same to any specific construction is a mere matter of cutting the ends to the proper length to make a good fit.

It will be understood, of course, that the strips 10 may be secured to the drawer bottom by screws or brads if desired; but if properly fitted and the slot strips 12 made to fit snugly over the projections 11, such securing is generally unnecessary.

From this description it will be seen that I have invented a spacer which is not onlycheaper in construction than a metal plate spacer, but is readily adaptable to all of the standard makes of filing devices which are not provided with spacing means; and it will be readily appreciated'by those familiar with the filing device business that this invention, thus adaptable to the enormous number of filing devices in use, affords a field of use evengreater than that of manufactule' and sale of filing devices provided with spacing means when manufactured.

Having thus described 'my invention, I' claim:

1. In a filing device of the type described, the combination with a container of controlstrlps for attachment thereto and having a plurality of longitudinal slots and other slots at an angle to and connecting with the longitudinal slots, and spacers extending between said strips and having projections for insertion through the angularlydlrected slots and loose engagement in the longitudinal slots.

2. In a filing device of the type described, the combination with a container of controlstrlpsfor attachment thereto, said strips1l5 having a plurality of longitudinal slots and other slots at an angle to and connecting with the longitudinal slots, spacers having projections for insertion through the angularly dlrected slots and loose engagement in the longitudinal slots, and clips for clamping the strips to the sides of the container.

3. In a filing device of the type described,

the combination with a container of control-strips for attachment thereto, said strips having portions lying against the, iner faces of the side walls of the container, spacers supported by said strips, clips "for clamping said strips to said container havscribed having, in combination, controlstrips provided with longitudinal slots and with other slots extending at an angle to and connecting with the longitudinal slots, and spacers having projections for insertion through the angular-slots and loose engage,- lnent in the longitudinal slots.

6. A filing device of the character described having in combination, controlstrips for the support of spacers, clamping clips co-operating with portions of said control-strips, and screws connecting said clips and said strips.

GEO. l). HARRAH. 

